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Crisol #16
The Story of the Family: G. K. Chesterton on the Only State that Creates and Loves Its Own Citizens
"The disintegration of rational society started in the drift from the hearth and the family", wrote G. K. Chesterton in 1933. "The solution must be a drift back." In a world that has lost touch with normality, it takes a pioneer to rediscover the wonders of the normal. This masterful compilation of texts and quotes from the prolific G. K. Chesterton, edited by Dale Ahlquist, illustrates the glory of the family—the heritage of romance, love, marriage, parenthood, and home. It is a hymn in praise of the saucepan, the kettle, the hairbrush, the umbrella stand, what Chesterton calls "the brave old bones of life". With piercing wit, the English writer pits all these venerable truths against the fashions of divorce, contraception, and abortion, along with the troubling philosophies that have afflicted education and the workplace since the early twentieth century. Society is built on the family, in all its unglamorous beauty, and Chesterton helps readers to see this reality with fresh eyes. As he "The first things must be the very fountains of life, love and birth and babyhood; and these are always covered fountains, flowing in the quiet courts of the home."
229 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 5, 2022
34 people are currently reading
273 people want to read
About the author
G.K. Chesterton
4,733 books5,848 followersGilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.
He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.
Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.
He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.
Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 21, 2022
Excellent. I agree with the author who recommended this book saying that Dale Ahlquist has done a brilliant job in assembling this collection of Chesterton’s essays and quotes. He also wrote, “The Woke should fear this book. Everyone else should buy it.” R.R.
April 25, 2022
This is such a great collection organized by general topics dealing with the family. Each chapter starts with one of GKC's poems, a series of short selections, and then more extended essays.
Frequently I was thinking about the experience of watching a TV show that frequently broke the fourth wall, such as the Gary Shandling show. I say this as GKC seems to break the fourth dimension and it seems he is writing about a current event. Sure, mentions of specific people and events make it seem dated at times, but the relevance of the points made are just—if not more—as needed to be heard today.
No doubt the relevance of the selections Dale Ahlquist made lends to this feel. Dale has really surpassed himself in the assemblage of this collection.
Frequently I was thinking about the experience of watching a TV show that frequently broke the fourth wall, such as the Gary Shandling show. I say this as GKC seems to break the fourth dimension and it seems he is writing about a current event. Sure, mentions of specific people and events make it seem dated at times, but the relevance of the points made are just—if not more—as needed to be heard today.
No doubt the relevance of the selections Dale Ahlquist made lends to this feel. Dale has really surpassed himself in the assemblage of this collection.
January 26, 2026
Full of relevant issues
Although GKC died going on a century ago, his thoughts remain both pithy and digressive. A master of rhetoric, he could somehow spin fabulous yarns, argue dense propositions, and entertain audiences who couldn't all have been swayed by his intellect, but surely never forgot his presence, formidable in size and sensibility. I doubt if many still read the essays of HG Wells, or the ripostes of GB Shaw, his foils and friends, contrasted with Chesterton's enthusiasms, which even if inevitably needing footnotes as Dale Ahlquist adds, might often delight.
Ahlquist as an extremely prolific supporter of GKC in my opinion tends to glide past his subject’s shortcomings, all the same. Catholic conservatives championing him underplay how many of us less secure than those funded by think tanks and more precarious given our bank balance in the 21st c embed ourselves in relationships of friendship, family, and acquaintance with our own circle which increasingly includes those of different sexual orientation and “unsanctioned” gender identities. Few can retreat into “intentional” or religiously rigorous communities. I admire a lot in GKC, but as with many of his colleagues then or now, their rigid rejection of acceptance on a practical basis of everyday lives encompassing the coming out of loved ones--and security embedded if amidst laxer moral standards and social norms--isn’t reality for billions living in our majority secular Western culture.
"We" can’t all homeschool, hunker down to harvest our own crops, handle another infant every fifteen months, and homestead ourselves. While I sympathize with those lamenting the ebbing of the lofty regimen which shaped my Irish-to-America family and culture, I witnessed ground-zero damage that glib papal dictate, parochial and peer pressure, relentless guilt, sexual shame, closeted clergy, "out of wedlock" births with their aftermath, episcopal scandal, Humanae Vitae, abandonment of spouses "married in the Church," and bitter estrangement wreaked. And I grew up the very first cohort after Vatican II...
Anyway, as Ahlquist peppers his bulky text with a barrage of quotes before each short essay in the thematic chapters, I'd advise not diving in straight, cover to cover. The material rewards dipping into. And highlighting (as my Goodreads review shows), for while repetitive at times, given the journalism which kept GKC's bread buttered, it demands contemplating at leisure, not skimming on screen. That pace suits too GKC's admirable pace, as his sentences sound to one's ear as they're perused. His cadences keep rhythm with his thinking through his arguments on paper.
While you may expect lots of fulminating against flappers or scorn of suffragettes, instead you'll find surprisingly sharp criticism of capitalism more than communism and reminders of what happens when the unborn stay that way forever, when divorce by nobody's fault seldom results in fairy-tale mutual happiness, or when domestic unity breaks apart under pressures to work closer to one's venal employer than one's kin. And then there's the sex drive, wedding vows (great insight), promiscuity, mass compulsory education, sociologists, bureaucrats, legislative decisions imposed as political policy, what we call "universal childcare," and what GKC would have excoriated indelibly, our current celebration of “shout your reproductive healthcare."
And if you have reservations about his antiquated, distributist, and Catholic causes, still take time to hear him out. Many of us witness the balance sheet of what the Pill, legal access to contraceptives, the acceptance of non-marital arrangements, and hooking up these tumultuous sixty-plus years by now has tallied, and of the opponents and defenders of tradition vs "blended" or "chosen" families, and of those claiming that a spouse deserves liberation from an abusive partner, or a child from incompetent couples unfit for each other let alone raising offspring (the latter two situations GKC never tackles seriously; he wasn’t a father) means freedom for individual fulfillment.
One can’t blame Chesterton’s lack of a crystal ball. GKC didn't live to see our current preoccupations with gender fluidity, alternative, same-sex, and/or “follow your bliss” transitory arrangements, the prevalence of "single moms" and "guardians" and step-relations galore in combination or solo beyond if not his imagination than at least what the welfare State, the atomization of choice by consumers of hedonistic and commodified lifestyles, pro-choice legal consensus, polyamory, and “serial monogamy” have engineered. Not to mention what he thought of cinema and radio, as predecessors to our social media and erotic influencers; GKC showed perspicacity!
Although GKC died going on a century ago, his thoughts remain both pithy and digressive. A master of rhetoric, he could somehow spin fabulous yarns, argue dense propositions, and entertain audiences who couldn't all have been swayed by his intellect, but surely never forgot his presence, formidable in size and sensibility. I doubt if many still read the essays of HG Wells, or the ripostes of GB Shaw, his foils and friends, contrasted with Chesterton's enthusiasms, which even if inevitably needing footnotes as Dale Ahlquist adds, might often delight.
Ahlquist as an extremely prolific supporter of GKC in my opinion tends to glide past his subject’s shortcomings, all the same. Catholic conservatives championing him underplay how many of us less secure than those funded by think tanks and more precarious given our bank balance in the 21st c embed ourselves in relationships of friendship, family, and acquaintance with our own circle which increasingly includes those of different sexual orientation and “unsanctioned” gender identities. Few can retreat into “intentional” or religiously rigorous communities. I admire a lot in GKC, but as with many of his colleagues then or now, their rigid rejection of acceptance on a practical basis of everyday lives encompassing the coming out of loved ones--and security embedded if amidst laxer moral standards and social norms--isn’t reality for billions living in our majority secular Western culture.
"We" can’t all homeschool, hunker down to harvest our own crops, handle another infant every fifteen months, and homestead ourselves. While I sympathize with those lamenting the ebbing of the lofty regimen which shaped my Irish-to-America family and culture, I witnessed ground-zero damage that glib papal dictate, parochial and peer pressure, relentless guilt, sexual shame, closeted clergy, "out of wedlock" births with their aftermath, episcopal scandal, Humanae Vitae, abandonment of spouses "married in the Church," and bitter estrangement wreaked. And I grew up the very first cohort after Vatican II...
Anyway, as Ahlquist peppers his bulky text with a barrage of quotes before each short essay in the thematic chapters, I'd advise not diving in straight, cover to cover. The material rewards dipping into. And highlighting (as my Goodreads review shows), for while repetitive at times, given the journalism which kept GKC's bread buttered, it demands contemplating at leisure, not skimming on screen. That pace suits too GKC's admirable pace, as his sentences sound to one's ear as they're perused. His cadences keep rhythm with his thinking through his arguments on paper.
While you may expect lots of fulminating against flappers or scorn of suffragettes, instead you'll find surprisingly sharp criticism of capitalism more than communism and reminders of what happens when the unborn stay that way forever, when divorce by nobody's fault seldom results in fairy-tale mutual happiness, or when domestic unity breaks apart under pressures to work closer to one's venal employer than one's kin. And then there's the sex drive, wedding vows (great insight), promiscuity, mass compulsory education, sociologists, bureaucrats, legislative decisions imposed as political policy, what we call "universal childcare," and what GKC would have excoriated indelibly, our current celebration of “shout your reproductive healthcare."
And if you have reservations about his antiquated, distributist, and Catholic causes, still take time to hear him out. Many of us witness the balance sheet of what the Pill, legal access to contraceptives, the acceptance of non-marital arrangements, and hooking up these tumultuous sixty-plus years by now has tallied, and of the opponents and defenders of tradition vs "blended" or "chosen" families, and of those claiming that a spouse deserves liberation from an abusive partner, or a child from incompetent couples unfit for each other let alone raising offspring (the latter two situations GKC never tackles seriously; he wasn’t a father) means freedom for individual fulfillment.
One can’t blame Chesterton’s lack of a crystal ball. GKC didn't live to see our current preoccupations with gender fluidity, alternative, same-sex, and/or “follow your bliss” transitory arrangements, the prevalence of "single moms" and "guardians" and step-relations galore in combination or solo beyond if not his imagination than at least what the welfare State, the atomization of choice by consumers of hedonistic and commodified lifestyles, pro-choice legal consensus, polyamory, and “serial monogamy” have engineered. Not to mention what he thought of cinema and radio, as predecessors to our social media and erotic influencers; GKC showed perspicacity!
October 21, 2024
There is no doubt that G.K. Chesterton is brilliant, but it takes a lot of patience to sift through the gravel to find the gold. Dale Ahlquist, the editor, has compiled all of Chesterton's most salient quotes on marriage and the family in one place, which I found to be a pleasant, albeit occasionally tedious, read.
February 23, 2023
Another masterful compilation of the master himself by Dale Ahlquist. This collection of quotes and essays is the antidote for a culture so intent on destroying the family. Ora pro nobis, Mr. Chesterton ❤️
August 21, 2023
Crazy how someone like G.K. Chesterton could write things so prophetic to our current age. A wonderful book honoring and celebrating the family. His writing is lyrical and entrancing. It was such a delight to pick this book up, and I had to write down a few of my favorite quotes...
"The man who makes a vow makes an appointment with himself at some distant time or place. The danger of it is that he himself should not keep the appointment. And in modern times this terror of one's self, of the weakness and mutability of one's self, has perilously increased, and is the real bases of the objection to vows of any kind."
"God Himself will not help us to ignore evil, but only to defy and to defeat it."
"Men live... rejoicing from age to age in something fresher than progress - in the fact that with every baby a new sun and a new moon are made."
"It is difficult to defend the obvious. We don't even know where to begin. It is also easy to forget the obvious. Breathing only becomes an issue when we are out of breath. The family is a perfect example of something so obvious that it is difficult to defend - so obvious that it is easy to ignore. But decay begins to set in, say Chesterton, when we forget the obvious thing... We are arguing about the frayed edges of an essential garment, and we have forgotten the purpose of that garment. In a 1920 book called The Superstition of Divorce, Chesterton gets down to basics and tells 'The Story of the Family.' His first three points: The family is the most ancient human institutions. It has an authority. It is universal. It is an institution that precedes the state. It differs from the State, and from any other institution, in that 'it begins with spontaneous attraction.' It is not coercive. 'There is nothing in any social relations in any way parallel to the mutual attraction of the sexes. By missing this simple point, the modern world has fallen into a hundred follies.' " ~Dale Ahlquist
"Chesterton says that the reformers do not understand the basis of the thing they are trying to rebuild. You cannot break apart the basic unit of civilization, which is the family. You cannot replace the authority of parents. You cannot replace the bond between a husband and wife. You can only waste your time trying. And disintegration of society with the atomization of special interests, the elevation of state education, and legalization of divorce and contraception and abortion and same-sex marriage are all of them wastes of time. The family will survive them all. The family, which came into existence without the government and has continued to exist without the support of the government, will withstand any unnatural laws made by the government. But in the meantime everyone suffers. Everyone. Because everyone is either a father or a mother or a child." ~Dale Ahlquist
"The man who makes a vow makes an appointment with himself at some distant time or place. The danger of it is that he himself should not keep the appointment. And in modern times this terror of one's self, of the weakness and mutability of one's self, has perilously increased, and is the real bases of the objection to vows of any kind."
"God Himself will not help us to ignore evil, but only to defy and to defeat it."
"Men live... rejoicing from age to age in something fresher than progress - in the fact that with every baby a new sun and a new moon are made."
"It is difficult to defend the obvious. We don't even know where to begin. It is also easy to forget the obvious. Breathing only becomes an issue when we are out of breath. The family is a perfect example of something so obvious that it is difficult to defend - so obvious that it is easy to ignore. But decay begins to set in, say Chesterton, when we forget the obvious thing... We are arguing about the frayed edges of an essential garment, and we have forgotten the purpose of that garment. In a 1920 book called The Superstition of Divorce, Chesterton gets down to basics and tells 'The Story of the Family.' His first three points: The family is the most ancient human institutions. It has an authority. It is universal. It is an institution that precedes the state. It differs from the State, and from any other institution, in that 'it begins with spontaneous attraction.' It is not coercive. 'There is nothing in any social relations in any way parallel to the mutual attraction of the sexes. By missing this simple point, the modern world has fallen into a hundred follies.' " ~Dale Ahlquist
"Chesterton says that the reformers do not understand the basis of the thing they are trying to rebuild. You cannot break apart the basic unit of civilization, which is the family. You cannot replace the authority of parents. You cannot replace the bond between a husband and wife. You can only waste your time trying. And disintegration of society with the atomization of special interests, the elevation of state education, and legalization of divorce and contraception and abortion and same-sex marriage are all of them wastes of time. The family will survive them all. The family, which came into existence without the government and has continued to exist without the support of the government, will withstand any unnatural laws made by the government. But in the meantime everyone suffers. Everyone. Because everyone is either a father or a mother or a child." ~Dale Ahlquist
June 10, 2023
A good summary of the writings of Chesterton on the family. Influenced my philosophy and prioritization of my family, hence I would recommend to others as a worthwhile book to consider reading. The family is the most important unit of society!
January 26, 2024
This was a nice compilation of so much of what Chesterton had to say about the family. Read this in preparation for my Chesterton society meeting. Really looking forward to discussing it with my friends!
February 20, 2026
Enjoyed GK much more this time around compared to his biographies on St Thomas and St Francis. He's got a lot of good things to say and makes you think a lot. There are a few things that feel outdated/impossible in this day and age. Maybe Capitalism was a mistake though.
May 13, 2024
By far the best book I have read this year, it is absolutely uncanny how reactive Chesterton’s words are for us today.
June 11, 2025
Fantastic. Gk Chesterton is simultaneously well known and adored of in some circles, while in others he is a complete unknown.
July 20, 2024
G.K. Chesterton lived in the early 1900s and wrote on the issues of his time. He was a great defender of Christian orthodoxy. In this book, Dale Ahlquist compiled a collection of poems, quotations, excerpts, and essays on the family from G.K. Chesterton. In today’s society, we see all kinds of attacks on the family around feminism, birth control, divorce, promiscuity, etc. To quote Ecclesiastes 1:9, “There is nothing new under the sun.” It was the same in G.K. Chesterton’s time. He speaks on these topics, which are just as relevant today.
I appreciate his defense of the family. He gets us to think about things more deeply. He writes in a style where he takes an idea and compares it to something concrete and relatable. For example, “If a triangle breaks out of its three sides, its life comes to a lamentable end,” which shows an obvious truth. In speaking about home and work, as another example, he writes, “Women were not kept at home in order to keep them narrow; on the contrary, they were kept at home in order to keep them broad.” This is not a slight on women to keep them at home, but it does give a certain individual dignity and respect that can be found in the household that may be absent in the workplace.
There are many good quotes in the book. One of them I really liked was, “The good artist is he who can be understood; it is the bad artist who is always ‘misunderstood.’” It is thought-provoking, simple, and easy to understand.
While reading the book, I found that if I read it too quickly, I missed out on what G.K. Chesterton was saying. I often needed to read it slower and sometimes stop and re-read what was just said to understand it fully. When I slowed down, I found the topics more interesting and profound.
I recommend this book to people who appreciate a challenging and thought-provoking read. It is not light or casual but enriches with slow-paced reading and deeper reflection.
I appreciate his defense of the family. He gets us to think about things more deeply. He writes in a style where he takes an idea and compares it to something concrete and relatable. For example, “If a triangle breaks out of its three sides, its life comes to a lamentable end,” which shows an obvious truth. In speaking about home and work, as another example, he writes, “Women were not kept at home in order to keep them narrow; on the contrary, they were kept at home in order to keep them broad.” This is not a slight on women to keep them at home, but it does give a certain individual dignity and respect that can be found in the household that may be absent in the workplace.
There are many good quotes in the book. One of them I really liked was, “The good artist is he who can be understood; it is the bad artist who is always ‘misunderstood.’” It is thought-provoking, simple, and easy to understand.
While reading the book, I found that if I read it too quickly, I missed out on what G.K. Chesterton was saying. I often needed to read it slower and sometimes stop and re-read what was just said to understand it fully. When I slowed down, I found the topics more interesting and profound.
I recommend this book to people who appreciate a challenging and thought-provoking read. It is not light or casual but enriches with slow-paced reading and deeper reflection.
May 9, 2023
A great collection of Chesterton’s works. This was my first time reading any of his writings. I see why so many say he’s brilliant, but also hard to read. He is not easy reading as he makes you think. You need a knowledge of historical events with some of his topics. I felt this made me more knowledgeable as I looked into the event he mentioned. I’m amazed that the writings took place in the late 1910’s 20’s, & 30’s; yet they are more true today. Feels like he predicted our future. Maybe because we didn’t listen to him or others back in their day?
June 8, 2023
G.K. Chesterton has to be one of the smartest and wittiest people I've ever read. There are so many quotes and passages in this collection that will stay with me forever.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews